Silly Winter

Most of us have lived in the Minnesota/Wisconsin region most, if not all of our lives. How is it possible that every year, come that first big snow fall, we all forget how to drive? Is it possible that we forget that ice can be slippery? Or it will take more time to slow down? I am not sure why our memory seems to be so short lived when it comes to winter, but it happens every year, to everybody.
I myself started my "forgetful winter" stage about two months ago. I like to do some winterizing to the house before it gets too cold, and if I recall correctly, we had a pretty nice fall, and for some reason, I decided that because it was so warm so late in the season, we were not going to get winter at all. Now, after more that two feet of snow, and drifts that measure upwards of 10 feet, I realized, I never did get those screens off my windows, or put the cooler away that sat in front of my garage for three months. I have frozen water hoses, that will not unthaw until April the way these tempuratures are going.
We all know winter is coming, but how many of us got the snow blower out, and made sure it worked before the storm hit? My dad actually had to use the bucket tractor to plow out the snow blower! He spent quite a bit of time doing that in the frigid cold wind, when, with just a little forthought, most of the work (and discomfort) could have been avoided. For the next five months, most of us will be begging for summer to come back, and once again, we will forget about winter, and all the bad things that come with it. It sure is beautiful looking out a window at the glittering trees isn't it though?

Being Good Parents, or Abusing the System

There is an amazing story on CNN.com of a little boy, 6 months old, who will receive surgery to essentially give him an immune system. It is a rare disease that few know exists, but when your baby is born with it, you learn about it very quickly. The baby was born with complications, and at 2 ½ weeks old, had heart surgery. It was soon after that that the doctors diagnosed this little bundle of joy Seth with the disease. Seth is covered under Indiana’s Medicaid plan. Most Medicaid plans do not cover experimental surgery’s. Unfortunately, this disease is so rare, that few studies have been done. The good news is there is one doctor in the United States that created a surgery that would allow Seth to have the much needed Immune System. Medicaid would not cover it. The surgery is considered experimental. Only after Seth’s story made head line news did the state of Indiana repeal their decision to cover the cost of surgery, estimated between $350,000 and $500,000. Seth’s family had already started asking for donations as soon as they had been denied covered the first time, and when the news came in that the state would cover the expense, the family immediately told reporters that the estimated $150,000 they had received in donations would be donated to a foundation to fight for the procedure to be deemed “non-experimental”. I think this is a great way to handle a situation. The people that donated all that money believed that money would be going to save the life of Seth. The family would be unethical in my mind to keep the money. I would not care if the money still went to Seth, even for a college fund, that money was not intended for that purpose. I have known a family, whose son was born with cerebral palsy. The child was covered under Minnesota Care for no cost to the family. I would say 90% of the child’s medical bills are covered under that plan. Children’s Miracle Network stepped in and helped the family pay other bills that were incurred because of the child. They helped the family with gas, food vouchers, and numerous other donations. I have no problems with any of this. The problem that I have with this particular family is that since that child was born, they have decided to hold a benefit, to help raise money to build a new home. This family also believes that everything concerning this child should be paid for, including diapers, clothes, food, and toys.
My problem is simple: if you plan to have a child, there will be expenses, whether that child is born healthy or unhealthy. I understand needing extra help with medical bills, no one can or should plan for their baby to have so many problems, but come on! Either way, you better be able to put a diaper on that babies butt without relying on hand-outs from the local community.

Bullying- What is the deal?

Bullying has become quite the issue in recent years on the news, in the schools, and even at home. I am not sure how I feel about all of it. Don’t get me wrong, I do not condone bullying what so ever, but I have to wonder how did it become such an enormous issue?
I remember, back in the good old days of elementary school, I got along with just about everyone. Now my school was very small, there were only nine kids in my class, so we were grouped together with the next grade up or down, depending on the year. Going to school with so few kids meant you kind of needed to get along with everyone, or you might not have any friends at all, but still, there was always that one girl that I didn’t always get along with. Both her and I look back now and think it was cute that we constantly sent each other “I need space” notes. As far as bullying goes, I don’t remember any of that going on. The bigger boys always had to pick on the younger kids, but I never considered that to be bullying. I wonder if that is what most of these cases now are actually about. A few months back, I read an article that posed the question if kids today know how to communicate face to face with each other anymore, because of the huge increase of technology. If I wanted to communicate with one of my friends, I would pick up the phone and talk to them. Now, I can pick up the phone and send them quick little messages. Computers and phones don’t have the ability to convey if you are laughing, crying, being sarcastic, or any other emotion that could be behind that sentence. For example, the comment “You are such a PIG” could be conveyed multiple ways. The obvious is that someone thinks you are disgusting, but, (flashing back to my elementary years), it most likely meant, “You are such a pretty intelligent girl!” So I have to wonder if some of the issues today with bullying aren’t just, at the end of the day, a miscommunication that went too far.
Another thought is how much we should blame the people that raise the children. I hate the fact that this might even need to be brought up, but where do the kids that are doing the bullying get that it is ok to do it in the first place? If I bullied someone at school and my parents found out, I don’t even want to imagine the consequences, and I am 25 years old! I am sure it would involve not being able to sit for a week.
I know two little boys, ages 8, that were supposedly bullying a little girl, age 6. The information that I gathered was, one of the little boys called the girl ugly. Call me whatever, but I don’t think that is considered bullying. Does the little boy need to be told that calling people names is not ok? Absolutely, and an apology to the little girl would need to take place. Later, I found out that the little girl called the other little boy “four eyes” because he had just gotten glasses, before his brother called her “ugly”. So now I realized that the first little boy was actually protecting his brother, and I have to give him credit for not hitting her too, as so many little boys think that is ok when they get mad. Eventually everybody said sorry to everybody, and from what I understand, everyone is getting along. Neither set of parents went to the school and cried bullying, but they were involved enough to get to the bottom of the issue, and make all the kids apologize to each other. Sometimes, I think if these types of issues were resolved at young ages, then bullying might not ever become an issue later in life.
Unfortunately, we are dealing with it now as a society. I feel bad for all the kids that are picked on or bullied, and sometimes the only thing to do is tell them that we believe in them, and they need to believe in themselves, eventually the mean kids will disappear from their lives, and life will get better. But what child listens to an adult when we tell them that life will be ok?

Honor and Respect of Men and Women

In recent years I have noticed that men seem to be less "gentlemanly" than they were in the past. When I watch an older movie, the man always opens the door for the women, they help put their coats on, drive the vehicles, and so on. It seems that the man of the house would strive to make life a little easier on the female. The women, meanwhile, would be busy raising the multiple children, cleaning the house, doing laundry, and cooking for everyone. Back to present time, most of these qualities seem to be lacking in the male gender. I have gotten in the habit of clapping when I see a male not just open a door, but wait for the female to pass through first before he goes through the doorway himself. Now not all men are forgetful of these qualities, some men are quite good at always opening the door, or helping a female in heels down a flight of stairs. These men seem to ask themselves internally, "Can I do something to make this person's life a little easier in the next 30 seconds?"
What is frustrating about this subject is the fact that we, as women asked for the above to happen. It was called the Feminist Movement. We needed to show the world, and men, that we could do everything they could do. We could open our own doors, get our own jobs, pay the bills, raise the kids, and clean the house, all with a smile on our faces. By golly we did a great job. Today, almost everything is equal in the respect of gender issues. Unfortunately, in our quest to deem ourselves "just as good as men", we lost a little bit of what defined us as women. Most men don't look at us as a precious being to be treasured and taken care of, because we proved that we don't need them for that. Can I blame men for not opening doors, or offering an arm, no, not really, because most likely, they had been yelled at for offering in the past. It also doesn't help, that when someone does do something nice, say open that door, the response I see most often is a mumbled "thank you" from the female, while looking at the floor. That is not a respectful response. Women do need to get better at looking that gentlemen in the eyes, and saying in a clear voice, "Why thank you sir" with a smile on our face. Women have no one else to blame other than ourselves for the current lack of gentlemanly quality's we see in society today.
I know we might never see society revert back to the "good old days" of kindness and respect, but I think if everyone tried to, a couple times a week, think of the other person in any situation, the world might be a better place in the future.

Sir Arthur Lewis Research Paper

There have been many winners of the Nobel Prize in Economic Science, but none other than Sir Arthur Lewis struck me as a more notable man for many reasons. He felt generations of economists had decided that the third world countries would never be worth saving, and he refused to accept that, coming from a less developed country himself. He worked for years fighting for other people and economists to understand his way of thinking, and his theories that the less developed countries could not only be saved, but they could one day flourish.
Arthur William Lewis was born January 23rd, 1915 to George and Ida Lewis, in St. Lucia. He was the fourth of five sons. Both of his parents were schoolteachers, who took education very seriously. Lewis was raised Catholic, with a love of music. In the years to come, while Lewis would study, in the background he would have classical music playing. (Continuum)
Lewis received his beginning years of education on St. Lucia. At the age of 14, he completed his secondary education with certificates from both St. Mary’s College with Cambridge Junior Examination, as well as Cambridge School. Lewis wanted to continue his education immediately, but at the young of 14, was not allowed to qualify for grants or scholarships until he turned seventeen years of age. Lewis took a job as a clerk in the Department of Agriculture in St. Lucia for three years, while he waited for time to pass, until he turned 17. (Continuum)
In 1932, at the age of 17, Lewis sat, and won, an Island Scholarship.(Continuum) Lewis was quoted saying, “I never meant to be an economist. My father wanted me to be a lawyer, but he died when I was seven; he had no vote at the appropriate time. I did not want to be a doctor either, nor a teacher. That put me in a hole, since law, medicine, preaching, and teaching were the only professions open to blacks in my day. I wanted to be an engineer, but neither the colonial government nor the sugar plantations would hire a black engineer” (Admin). So Arthur chose to obtain his degree in Business Administration from a British University. Lewis started at the London School of Economics in 1933. He graduated in 1937 with first class honors, receiving the highest marks ever obtained in the history of London School of Economics. Because of his excellent marks, he received a scholarship to obtain his PhD at the London School of Economics in the area of Industrial Economics. While Lewis was working on his Ph.D., he also served the British Government at the Board of Trade and the Colonial Office. He began teaching at the London School of Economics in 1938, where he was the first black member of staff. In 1940, he received his PhD with a thesis titled “Overhead Costs”, which was later published in a book in 1949. (Continuum)
Breaking yet another barrier, Lewis was appointed Stanley Jevons Professor of Political Economy at the University of Manchester, at the age of 33, the youngest professor of economics at Manchester University. During his tenure at Manchester, Lewis produced several works on the subject of development Economics.(Continuum) Lewis worked on many publications while teaching at Manchester. He believed the best way to learn something, was to teach it. (Lewis)
While Lewis was studying, teaching, and writing, a constant concern that entered his mind was the state of the less developed countries, most known to us as the Third World Countries. In the 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s, it was common belief that the less developed countries would never be able to fight their way out of poverty, and would always have to lean on the wealthy countries for help and handouts. Arthur did not believe that was the way life needed to be for the people of these countries (Anderson). His study’s opened up the very plausible idea that less developed countries could and should be able to bring them out of poverty. During this time, wealthy countries would take advantage of the less developed countries by importing grains, while exporting manufactured goods. Because the underdeveloped countries were poor, they had an excess of labor, making it very cheap for the wealthy countries to buy manufactured goods. At the heart of the matter, Lewis’s idea was very simple. Educate the people of the less developed countries, put more people to work in the agriculture industry making enough food to support themselves. This means that there would be fewer people working in the manufacturing industry, and there would be less of a need to import grain and wheat from wealthier countries. This would then level the playing field when it came to what the wealthy countries wanted, such as cheap manufactured items. Most of Lewis’s publications revolved around this theory.
In 1958, Lewis became the principal of the University College of West Indies, where he was a key player in adding Universities to Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago. In 1962, the University College of West Indies separated from the University of London, and Lewis found himself to be the first ever Vice Chancellor of the University of West Indies. In 1963, Lewis was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his roles in development economics. Shortly after he was knighted, Sir Lewis took a professorship at the University of Princeton here in the United States. In 1970, he was asked by the Caribbean Government to essentially create, and be President of the Caribbean Development Bank, which would help provide financing for economic and social projects in the local Caribbean area. (Continuum)
In 1979, years after his theories had been put to the test, and passed with flying colors; he received the Nobel Prize in Economics (Anderson). Once more, Sir Lewis broke a barrier, becoming the first black man to win a Nobel Prize in a category other than Peace. With the diploma, and the medal, Sir Lewis also received 800,000 Kroner, or 190,000 US Dollars (The Nobel Prize Amounts) (Anderson). Many of Sir Lewis’s economic ideas in present time are so accepted, the ideas have become “known fact” in the world of economics. Some economists did think it strange that Sir Arthur had received the Nobel Prize so late in his career, seeing as how he has not had any major theoretical economic breaththroughs for years. But, “Haq of the World Bank believes that criticism misses the point. ‘The Nobel award’, he says, ‘represents a belated recognition that the problems of world poverty merit international attention’.”(Newsweek)
Sir Lewis finished out his amazing career at Princeton University, retiring in 1982, but stayed busy by being a guest teacher at Princeton and the Sir Arthur Community College(Continuum). Sir Lewis passed away June 15, 1991 and was buried at the Sir Arthur Community College, where the faculty is honored to have him rest. (Admin)
I believe Sir Lewis should have received the Nobel Prize years earlier, sadly no one can change the past, strangely enough though, because of Sir Lewis’s research, we can change the future for many of the third world countries and the people who live there. Though Sir Lewis has passed away, we will continue to use his knowledge and genius of economics for many more decades.